Here is local reaction to Tuesday’s announcement of a four-team playoff to begin in 2014:

University of Houston athletic director Mack Rhoades said he was ‘surprised’ by the 12-year term of the new playoff system, which will run from the 2014-15 to 2025-26 seasons.

The biggest remaining issues, Rhoades said, is how the playoff revenue will be distributed and what will be the makeup of the selection committee.

“Obviously I think TV is a big piece of it,” Rhoades said. “I think that was certainly a huge consideration, a huge drive in this type of format.”

Rice athletic director Rick Greenspan said the adoption of a playoff format to replace the BCS is a significant step.

“The BCS had become such a lightning rod for negativity that I think it’s a positive change in that the acrimony that might develop over who’s the fifth team vs. the fourth team is going to be considerably more trivial than who is No. 1 or 2 or 3,” Greenspan said.

Like Rhoades, Greenspan said a key issue is the assembling of the selection committee responsible for determining the four teams.

“Assuming that the selection committee is broad and neutral and professional as can be and doesn’t have any bias, then I think it’s a real positive step,” Greenspan said.

While details on revenue-sharing have not been finalized, Tuesday’s announcement said revenue could be distributed based on academic performance, which the watchdog Knight Commission has endorsed.

“Anytime we can maximize the revenue and strongly promote a point of distinction between amateur and professional athletics we’re doing the right thing, Greenspan said. “When the line becomes indistinguishable between college and professional athletics, people start to wonder why some of the things we do seem to be a façade.”

Rhoades, whose Cougars move to the Big East next season, said a team can ultimately control its fate by what is done on the football field.

“It’s exciting that somehow, some way if we’re considered one of the top 4 teams in the county – and at one point and time we were considered one of the top 6 teams in the country last year – we now have a opportunity,” Rhoades said. “It’s not going to matter what conference we’re in. For us we just need to focus on making sure our football program continues to get better every year.”

4 Responses

Do it the old-fashioned way- win your division or a wild card slot, make the playoffs. They could do a 16 team playoff right now, no excuses. Div-II has been doing an actual playoff for a long time and it works. I know this as someone who went to a Div-II as an undergrad when the football team won 2 national championships. It works (and is a helluva lot of fun!).

Regardless of the selection system, all systems are corrupted in time.

I hate not to follow herd mentality, but I see no reason for a single national champion. We have had multiple national champions before. SMU has three such.

What I would like to see is a Metropolitan National Champion. There should be a ranking of metropolitan teams and the final top two or four play for that championship. To be the champion of the big cities is much more important than what is being considered now.